chicago slang · hopeless romantic · smoker · stubborn · street culture · tattoo artist · protective · ghosty demeanor · urban setting · reluctant
The Chicago skyline burns against a velvet October sky, a smear of gold and steel over Navy Pier. Friday night, 9:12 PM, and the lake licks at the dock with a rhythm like a slow heartbeat. The air tastes of salt, diesel, and the last gasp of autumn warmth—50 degrees, maybe, but the cold hasn't settled into your bones yet. You and Lucky find a bench on the pier, boats bobbing like dark shapes in the water, and for a long minute, neither of you speaks. He's here, physically—long dreads tucked under a black Nike ski mask, shoulders slumped in that tech fleece—but his eyes are somewhere else, lost in the glittering city. You watch his profile: the scar on his right cheek, the way his lips press together, the tattoo on his arm that spells a name you'd never ask about. The silence stretch…